Linda Moore

Keith Nygren

Two local officials have taken different paths when it comes to whether or not to appeal an Appellate Court decision that they don’t like to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore lost in the Appellate Court on whether she can appoint a township attorney without the approval of the Town Board, on which she has one out of five votes.

Her choice, John Nelson, the man who won virtually all the rest of Moore’s disputes with the Township Trustees, was approved by Circuit Judge Michael Caldwell, but his decision was overruled in the Elgin-based higher court.

It was not worth the money to find out whether her attorney’s arguments, rejected in Elgin, would resonate in Springfield at the Illinois Supreme Court.

In sharp contrast, Sheriff Keith Nygren is off to the Illinois Supreme Court in his continuing effort to keep former Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler from going back to work.

Nygren didn’t just lose in Appellate Court (3-0), he lost in Circuit Court before Judge Thomas Meyer and before an arbitrator, who determined the facts in the case. Judge Meyer was acting on a administrative review brought by Nygren and the Judge ruled that the arbitrator’s decision was reasonable.

So, let’s compare and contrast.

Both Moore and Nygren are elected officials.

Moore won in Circuit Court and lost in the Appellate Court.

Nygren lost his case before

• an arbitrator
• a Circuit Court Judge and
• an Appellate Court panel of Justices.

Moore decided not to waste taxpayers’ money by appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Nygren didn’t.